20 July 2009

BNP to use EU taxpayers' money to fund chosen causes

Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons, the party's two MEPs, will skim off part of their expenses and salaries to fund a party-controlled "community chest", they told the Daily Telegraph.

People in their European constituencies – North-West England and Yorkshire & The Humber – will then be able to apply for the money in order to fund "worthwhile" local projects, including St George's Day celebrations.

The plan, which is against the European Parliament's rules, is likely to prompt concerns that public funds will be spent on racist groups or other controversial activities.

It is also likely to raise fears that the BNP will misuse public money to broaden its domestic appeal ahead of the general election, at which it plans to aggressively target a dozen constituencies.

Both Mr Griffin, the party leader, and Mr Brons will put 10 per cent of their £80,000 annual salary, as well as thousands more from unused accomodation and travel allowances, into the constituency fund, they said.

Mr Griffin said: "When we've got money left over, we're putting it back into our constituencies. We've pledged to do so, and we will do so. It will be good for people in our area."

"We'll set up a bank account in the names of three of our members, who will decide to spend it on what we consider worthwhile projects … things like St George's Day celebrations," added Mr Brons, a former chairman of the National Front. "Anything surplus will go into this community chest".

A spokesman for the European Parliament said: "That would not be allowed. The rules are quite clear. Allowances can not be used for things that are not set out in the guidance."

MEPs are given a generous allowances package worth about £363,000 a year, including a £261 daily subsistence allowance simply for turning up to work. Unlike MPs in Westminster, they do not have to claim the money but are instead given the maximum amount as a lump sum.

However according to the European Parliament guidance, MEPs must use the money only to pay for their offices, staff, food, accomodation and travel.

St George's Day is likely to fall during the campaign for the next general election, which is expected in May next year. Funding celebrations of it in this way could leave the BNP open to accusations of misuse of public money.

Told that the plan would be against the rules, Mr Brons said: "So it's all right if we use it on champagne and caviar?" Mr Griffin then also suggested the money could be spent on young people's activities or on help for armed services veterans.

Speaking during an interview at the end of their first week at work in Strasbourg, Mr Griffin and Mr Brons said that the party planned to use their new European platform as a launchpad for more domestic influence.

Mr Griffin said that they were optimistic that they could win a seat at the next general election, and would strongly focus on "probably a dozen seats". He said that he expected to do even better at the election after next, because as prime minister David Cameron would let down traditional Conservative voters.

The BNP would be able to "really produce a shock" if the major parties allowed MPs tarnished by disclosures about their use of expenses to try to retain their seats, Mr Griffin said.

He also confirmed that his party would field a candidate in Buckingham, the seat of John Bercow, the new Commons Speaker. Convention dictates that the major parties do not contest a Speaker's seat.

Mr Griffin said that the party planned to run a campaign inspired by Barack Obama's successful run for the US presidency, funded by small donations given over the internet by lots of different supporters.

He and Mr Brons attacked Glenys Kinnock, the new Europe minister, who earlier this week said the BNP was a party of "racists and extremists". Mr Griffin said the Government was "racist against indigenous working-class Britons."

Mr Griffin also said he planned to use his new role as a member of the Parliament's Environment Committee to challenge the consensus that man-made global warming was a threat.

"There's also been global warming on Mars," he said, "so it's not down to SUVs (sports utility vehicles) or people who refuse to be vegetarians ... It's not going to happen or become a disaster [soon] – it's about 80 years before the polar bears start drowning."

Mr Griffin said that while they have been shunned by most British MEPs, whom he labelled "petty", he and Mr Brons had solidified their alliance with Jobbik, the far-right Hungarian party whose street militia, the Hungarian Guard, wears fascist-style uniforms.

He said that he had written his maiden speech to be heard alongside that of Krisztina Morvai, a Jobbik MEP, and that he and Mr Brons had this week stayed in the same Strasbourg hotel as the Dr Morvai and the rest of her European party.

He also said that the BNP was already considering taking legal action against the Parliament for not allowing them and other parties unattached to larger political groupings to vote for their own delegate to the influential council of presidents.

Meanwhile Mr Griffin and Mr Brons, who were driven to Brussels in order to elude photographers at stations and airports, said that their arrival in Strasbourg was delayed when they were given a €45 (£39) fine for being caught speeding as they passed through France.

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